Nanjing: Abdullah Zain Al Sunaidi fell victim to big stage nerves and finished 12th the second Youth Olympic Games at the Fangshan Shooting Range yesterday.
The 17-year-old Qatari did not start and finish well and as a result, he logged only 609.6 points and missed being among the best eight to earn the right to play the finals.
Sunaidi launched the qualification round with 101.8 and followed it up with 101.9.
Then for three successive series, he shot 102 plus. However, he ended poorly to have only 99.1, which potentially cost him a spot in the finals.
Chinese Yang Haoran topped the table with 629.4 points. Armenia’s Hrachik Babayan was second best, tallying 624.8. Hungary’s Istvan Peni got the third highest score of 624.2 and the cut-off mark was 613.9, which was secured by Uzbek Vadim Skorovarov.
In the final, the best three finished in the same order to be on the podium.
Haoran bagged the gold medal with 209.3, while the silver medal came to Babayan, who had 204.3 and Peni gained the bronze medal with a score of 183.5.
Sunaidi said after completing his event that he felt nervous and could not shoot well.
“I had worked hard for this event. But during the competition, I felt a bit under pressure and could not hit the target as well I should have.
“It was a good opportunity to rise and shine. Even I had a poor series at the end or I might have entered the finals, which is generally anybody’s match,” he said.
“Maybe I badly wanted to do well and could not handle the pressure of competition and expectations,” Sunaidi regretted.
His coach Tatsiana said Sunaidi was close to making it to the finals but he missed targets at the end .“He did well in the middle of the competition to raise his chances of getting into the final. But he could not finish strongly and managed only 609.6 points.
“The 12th place is also an encouraging result for a shooter who has started shooting not long ago,” he said.
QOA
